At the start of the year the National Police Board established an ‘ethical channel’ for cops to report on suspicious activities among their fellow officers.
The idea was to avoid a situation like the Jari Aarnio case, where rank-and-file police had suspicions about the disgraced ex-narcotics cop, but did not report it to their superiors.
Helsingin Sanomat reports on Friday that since the channel was established, some 170 complaints have been received.
Many of them were humorous or hostile to the idea, but there were some nuggets of potentially corrupt behaviour.
One reported a restaurant that offered uniformed officers a 30 percent discount on lunch, while another suggested that wearing a police uniform in a Tinder profile picture might damage confidence in the force.
HS reports that a total of three cases have been passed to the prosecutor for consideration.
Tripla parking charges grate
Iltalehti reports on the opening of a new mall and huge railway station at Pasila in Helsinki.
The development opened its doors on Thursday with throngs of excited shoppers turning up to savour the frantic atmosphere of a busy retail experience.
IL reports, however, that motorists were upset that the parking facilities at Tripla are on the expensive side at five euros per hour.
Quite why anyone would want to drive to a public transport hub with connections to every part of the country was not explained, but the tabloid culled comments from a local FB group and made a story about them.
Housing hopes
Helsingin Sanomat is both Finland’s paper of record and the local news outlet for its biggest city, and this autumn HS has been running a series of articles about council housing in the capital.
Heka provides municipally-owned housing to those who need it, but HS suggests the system is easily abused. There are income requirements and a need requirement before tenants are allocated a home, but on Friday the paper reports on one anonymous Heka customer who managed to fiddle the system.
‘Kim’ says he landed a plum apartment near the city centre by persuading his landlord to convert his ongoing lease to a temporary one, thus making him homeless--on paper.
That paper was enough to get him the flat, where he now lives paying a rent that’s well below market rates in the country’s dearest rental market.
HS says that Heka staff say they should spot such trickery, and that they sometimes call landlords to check, but the system is what it is.
Kim’s landlord tells the paper that it’s not the fault of those who fiddle the system.
“Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” said the landlord.